Q&A with Gary Denbo - Part III

Patrick Teale

11/06/2007

Gary Denbo, the former Yankees minor league hitting coordinator who recently became the Toronto Blue Jays hitting coach, sits down with PinstripesPlus.com for a three-part Q&A series. In the final part he tells us what he has seen from Damon Sublett, Carmen Angelini, and Austin Romine, what kind of hitter he thinks Francisco Cervelli will be, if he was impressed with Juan Miranda, and much more.

PinstripesPlus: Well the one guy who seems to use his legs a lot is Damon Sublett. He put up some great power numbers in Staten Island this year despite not being too big in his upper-half. What did you see from him and were you impressed with the polish he showed in his first year?

Denbo: When I saw him early my first impression was he was a very aggressive hitter and that I really liked the way he got after it in the batter's box, and he seemed to have some confidence. [Staten Island hitting coach] Ty Hawkins did a tremendous job with Damon. Damon, like a lot of young hitters, has to learn to slow himself down a bit and get himself more under control so he can get good pitches to hit, so he can good pitch recognition, so he can use the entire field to hit. The ingredients are there for Sublett to be a very good hitter. He's got some strength in his lower body and he's another guy that, you're right, needs to make sure he improves his upper-body strength, slows down his movements a bit, and makes sure he gets good pitches to hit that he can drive.

PinstripesPlus: A guy I love to watch hit is Francisco Cervelli. He's not a real big guy but yet it seems like he always puts together a good at-bat. What have you seen from him progress-wise and is he a guy that has some hidden power in his swing?

Denbo: You know what he's bigger than you think he is, if you stand next to him. He's worked real hard to improve his strength and improve his size. Here's a guy that I've got to give credit to two people for his development: one is [former Tampa hitting coach/new hitting coordinator] James Rowson for his offensive development. He has really helped Francisco. Francisco is a guy who had far too much movement in his load and in his stride that just didn't allow him to consistently take good swings and consistently get good timing.

If you look at guys throughout the organization, he really stood out in his rookie year as a guy who really was mostly out of control during his at-bats. He has really developed now into one of the hitters in the Yankees' organization that is very quiet in his movements. There are very few unnecessary movements in his load and in his stride. It has allowed him to get better pitch recognition and to take more consistent swings. I don't look at Francisco Cervelli and say he's going to hit for a lot of power, but I think this is a guy who's going to drive the ball into the gaps and occasionally hit some home runs for you. He's more of a doubles-type hitter and his defense is just outstanding.

His defensive development is all because of Julio Mosquera. Julio's done a great job with him. To watch this kid develop, if you ask anybody that has seen him play or been on a team with him - managers love Francisco, the coaches love him, the pitchers love to throw to Francisco, and the umpires love to umpire behind him. He's a pleasure to watch defensively and I think he's just going to keep improving offensively.

He's a definite prospect in the organization, and if his offense comes along, and if he continues to work hard and stay healthy, then he's got a chance to be a frontline starting catcher in the major leagues. It depends on his offense. If he continues to develop like he has then he's got a chance to be a starting catcher. He's a pleasure to watch.

PinstripesPlus: A guy who has really caught my attention at the plate, and I know he hasn't had many at-bats, is Austin Romine. What did you see from him in the early going?

Denbo: I'm very impressed. Damon Oppenheimer did an outstanding job in this year's draft getting some quality young players. Austin Romine stands out amongst those guys. I like his size, I like his strength, I like his aggressiveness, he stands in at the plate like he has played professional baseball for a few years and he's a rookie. He's very aggressive at the plate, he stands in with confidence, and the ball gets off his bat very well. He's a leg-lift load type hitter and he has a way of controlling his lower-half. You don't see very many guys coming out of high school that have the ability to maintain balance and make adjustments during at-bats like Austin Romine. I just thought that was an outstanding pick by Damon Oppenheimer and his scouts.

PinstripesPlus: You said the ball jumps off of his bat and it seems it is the same thing for Brandon Laird, maybe even more so. Every time he plays he screams slugger to me. What have you seen from him?

Denbo: I'll tell you, how this kid got to the 27th round is really a big story. I agree with you, he's one of the guys who really stood out in rookie ball and the entire Gulf Coast League as one of the top hitters in the league. He made adjustments very quickly. His brother is a major league player with Texas and I'm sure that has something to do with it. The guys that come into professional baseball with a little bit of background, a little bit of understanding of how things worked, tend to adjust quicker and he's one of those guys. He came into the cage and worked very hard in his preparation. He worked very hard to make adjustments in his lower-half to improve his timing and he made adjustments very quickly. The results showed one he got into the games. He was one of the more impressive hitters in this year's draft for the Yankees.

Those things happen [slipping in the draft]. The MVP of the World Series this year was a 20th round pick. For whatever reason, I can't imagine what it was either. Mike Lowell came out as a 20th round pick and this kid, you could compare him to a Mike Lowell type player. Mike came out and he had some discipline, showed some balance, but Mike didn't do a very good job using the entire field but he did an excellent job getting good pitches to hit and drive, and Brandon does the same thing.

PinstripesPlus: Keeping with the new player theme, Carmen Angelini seems to have a good bit of polish at the plate too. Talk about what you've seen from him so far.

Denbo: I'm very impressed, and being a hitting coach I don't talk a lot about defense, but I'm very impressed with his defensive abilities at shortstop. I got an opportunity to watch him during the mini-camp when I wasn't in the cage and you're right, he's impressive to watch. He's got some athletic movements at shortstop and he seems to do things easily defensively. Offensively I see him as a line-drive type hitter, a gap-to-gap hitter, and he has the ability to move the ball around the field. He's going to be a guy to execute situational type hitting and he's got a lot going for him for such a young guy. He's very calm in his actions, there's no panic both offensively and defensively. That's something you don't see out of high school players, guys that go out and play the game and they're under control, maintain balance, and don't rush when they do things. Those are skills that we have to develop for most players and he's already there.

PinstripesPlus: For a guy that took two or two and half years off from baseball, Juan Miranda seemed to be quite comfortable at the plate at times. What did you see from him this year and were you impressed with him considering his long layoff from the game?

Denbo: I was. I can say there was some concern on my part earlier in the season that he would get off to a better start than he did, but when you consider the fact that he hadn't played organized baseball for the last couple of years and he was just kind of getting back into it and getting his timing back, if you look at the numbers at the end of the year, it was just outstanding. It was an outstanding season for him.

Juan's a guy that has the ability to use the entire field when he hits. I mean he can drive balls out of left-centerfield and he can certainly drive the ball into the gap into left-centerfield. His strength is actually to that side of the field, more to center and left-centerfield. When he focuses on using the entire field when he hits, he's a very good hitter. He's like most guys when he gets a few hits to the pull-side they get away from using the whole field. That's the development that I saw this year.

I talked to James Rowson who [was] out there with him in the Arizona Fall League and James was telling me that he's really doing a great job of using the entire field to hit right now. He has continued to take those lessons in his game and I think he's got a lot of hitting ability. James Rowson did an outstanding job with him this season getting him to start early so he doesn't have to rush to get ready to hit. When he gets ready to hit early, he's a dangerous hitter.

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\r\n \r\n\r\nPinstripesPlus: Well the one guy who seems to use his legs a lot is Damon Sublett. He put up some great power numbers in Staten Island this year despite not being too big in his upper-half. What did you see from him and were you impressed with the polish he showed in his first year?\r\n\r\nDenbo: When I saw him early my first impression was he was a very aggressive hitter and that I really liked the way he got after it in the batter's box, and he seemed to have some confidence. [Staten Island hitting coach] Ty Hawkins did a tremendous job with Damon. Damon, like a lot of young hitters, has to learn to slow himself down a bit and get himself more under control so he can get good pitches to hit, so he can good pitch recognition, so he can use the entire field to hit. The ingredients are there for Sublett to be a very good hitter. He's got some strength in his lower body and he's another guy that, you're right, needs to make sure he improves his upper-body strength, slows down his movements a bit, and makes sure he gets good pitches to hit that he can drive.\r\n\r\nPinstripesPlus: A guy I love to watch hit is Francisco Cervelli. He's not a real big guy but yet it seems like he always puts together a good at-bat. What have you seen from him progress-wise and is he a guy that has some hidden power in his swing?\r\n\r\nDenbo: You know what he's bigger than you think he is, if you stand next to him. He's worked real hard to improve his strength and improve his size. Here's a guy that I've got to give credit to two people for his development: one is [former Tampa hitting coach/new hitting coordinator] James Rowson for his offensive development. He has really helped Francisco. Francisco is a guy who had far too much movement in his load and in his stride that just didn't allow him to consistently take good swings and consistently get good timing.\r\n\r\nIf you look at guys throughout the organization, he really stood out in his rookie year as a guy who really was mostly out of control during his at-bats. He has really developed now into one of the hitters in the Yankees' organization that is very quiet in his movements. There are very few unnecessary movements in his load and in his stride. It has allowed him to get better pitch recognition and to take more consistent swings. I don't look at Francisco Cervelli and say he's going to hit for a lot of power, but I think this is a guy who's going to drive the ball into the gaps and occasionally hit some home runs for you. He's more of a doubles-type hitter and his defense is just outstanding.\r\n\r\nHis defensive development is all because of Julio Mosquera. Julio's done a great job with him. To watch this kid develop, if you ask anybody that has seen him play or been on a team with him - managers love Francisco, the coaches love him, the pitchers love to throw to Francisco, and the umpires love to umpire behind him. He's a pleasure to watch defensively and I think he's just going to keep improving offensively.\r\n\r\nHe's a definite prospect in the organization, and if his offense comes along, and if he continues to work hard and stay healthy, then he's got a chance to be a frontline starting catcher in the major leagues. It depends on his offense. If he continues to develop like he has then he's got a chance to be a starting catcher. He's a pleasure to watch.\r\n\r\nPinstripesPlus: A guy who has really caught my attention at the plate, and I know he hasn't had many at-bats, is Austin Romine. What did you see from him in the early going?\r\n\r\nDenbo: I'm very impressed. Damon Oppenheimer did an outstanding job in this year's draft getting some quality young players. Austin Romine stands out amongst those guys. I like his size, I like his strength, I like his aggressiveness, he stands in at the plate like he has played professional baseball for a few years and he's a rookie. He's very aggressive at the plate, he stands in with confidence, and the ball gets off his bat very well. He's a leg-lift load type hitter and he has a way of controlling his lower-half. You don't see very many guys coming out of high school that have the ability to maintain balance and make adjustments during at-bats like Austin Romine. I just thought that was an outstanding pick by Damon Oppenheimer and his scouts.\r\n\r\nPinstripesPlus: You said the ball jumps off of his bat and it seems it is the same thing for Brandon Laird, maybe even more so. Every time he plays he screams slugger to me. What have you seen from him?\r\n\r\nDenbo: I'll tell you, how this kid got to the 27th round is really a big story. I agree with you, he's one of the guys who really stood out in rookie ball and the entire Gulf Coast League as one of the top hitters in the league. He made adjustments very quickly. His brother is a major league player with Texas and I'm sure that has something to do with it. The guys that come into professional baseball with a little bit of background, a little bit of understanding of how things worked, tend to adjust quicker and he's one of those guys. He came into the cage and worked very hard in his preparation. He worked very hard to make adjustments in his lower-half to improve his timing and he made adjustments very quickly. The results showed one he got into the games. He was one of the more impressive hitters in this year's draft for the Yankees.\r\n\r\nThose things happen [slipping in the draft]. The MVP of the World Series this year was a 20th round pick. For whatever reason, I can't imagine what it was either. Mike Lowell came out as a 20th round pick and this kid, you could compare him to a Mike Lowell type player. Mike came out and he had some discipline, showed some balance, but Mike didn't do a very good job using the entire field but he did an excellent job getting good pitches to hit and drive, and Brandon does the same thing.\r\n\r\nPinstripesPlus: Keeping with the new player theme, Carmen Angelini seems to have a good bit of polish at the plate too. Talk about what you've seen from him so far.\r\n\r\nDenbo: I'm very impressed, and being a hitting coach I don't talk a lot about defense, but I'm very impressed with his defensive abilities at shortstop. I got an opportunity to watch him during the mini-camp when I wasn't in the cage and you're right, he's impressive to watch. He's got some athletic movements at shortstop and he seems to do things easily defensively. Offensively I see him as a line-drive type hitter, a gap-to-gap hitter, and he has the ability to move the ball around the field. He's going to be a guy to execute situational type hitting and he's got a lot going for him for such a young guy. He's very calm in his actions, there's no panic both offensively and defensively. That's something you don't see out of high school players, guys that go out and play the game and they're under control, maintain balance, and don't rush when they do things. Those are skills that we have to develop for most players and he's already there.\r\n\r\nPinstripesPlus: For a guy that took two or two and half years off from baseball, Juan Miranda seemed to be quite comfortable at the plate at times. What did you see from him this year and were you impressed with him considering his long layoff from the game?\r\n\r\nDenbo: I was. I can say there was some concern on my part earlier in the season that he would get off to a better start than he did, but when you consider the fact that he hadn't played organized baseball for the last couple of years and he was just kind of getting back into it and getting his timing back, if you look at the numbers at the end of the year, it was just outstanding. It was an outstanding season for him.\r\n\r\nJuan's a guy that has the ability to use the entire field when he hits. I mean he can drive balls out of left-centerfield and he can certainly drive the ball into the gap into left-centerfield. His strength is actually to that side of the field, more to center and left-centerfield. When he focuses on using the entire field when he hits, he's a very good hitter. He's like most guys when he gets a few hits to the pull-side they get away from using the whole field. That's the development that I saw this year.\r\n\r\nI talked to James Rowson who [was] out there with him in the Arizona Fall League and James was telling me that he's really doing a great job of using the entire field to hit right now. He has continued to take those lessons in his game and I think he's got a lot of hitting ability. James Rowson did an outstanding job with him this season getting him to start early so he doesn't have to rush to get ready to hit. When he gets ready to hit early, he's a dangerous hitter.\r\n\r\n

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